In John Carpenter's comic martial-arts film, villainous,
immortal sorcerer Lo-Pan (James Hong) died in his throne room underneath
Chinatown, where he led a group of bandits called
"Wing Kong."

Truck driving hero Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) - who had
lipstick smudged all over his lips after kissing love interest/lawyer
Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall) - had his own knife flung at him by Lo-Pan
(who had noted: "Good knife"), with the threat of dying:

Goodbye, Mister Burton - uh!

With whiplash accuracy, Burton quickly caught the knife
and threw it back into the forehead of Lo-Pan.

When Lo-Pan fell backwards dead, the many golden buddha
statues lining his throne room crashed in a row (like dominos) around
Jack, who stood amazed and told Gracie proudly and confidently:

It's all in the reflexes.

Forehead Knifing

Big Trouble in Little China
(1986)

Angered and also dishonored by Lo-Pan's death because
he couldn't provide protection, Asian martial-arts master and powerful
magician Thunder (Carter Wong) (one of the Three Storms) physically
expanded in rage, inflated and exploded (off-screen) in an amusing
death scene.

First, his facial cheeks and his feet swelled to an enormous
size.

Then his entire head filled with hot steamy air before
he literally blew up.

Thunder's Swelling

Deadly Friend (1986)

In this science-fiction, "Frankenstein-like" horror
film by director Wes Craven, Samantha Pringle (Kristy Swanson) was
abusively brain-damaged by her father and lapsed into a coma. Her
body was implanted with an AI chip from a neighbor's pet robot named
Bee Bee (or BB), and she became reanimated, robotic and superpowerful
herself.

In the film's most infamous death scene, Samantha vengefully
attacked her mean, crotchety, reclusive next-door neighbor Elvira Parker
(Anne Ramsey). The film was prefaced by a basketball mysteriously bouncing
into Elvira's living room. Elvira grabbed her shotgun and warned any
intruders but found no one.

Samantha emerged in the room, threw her
against a wall, picked up the basketball, and delivered one swift toss
to Elvira's head. She watched as Elvira's head exploded, and the decapitated,
headless corpse (splattering blood) staggered and wriggled to the floor.

In another memorable scene, Samantha had been transported
to a morgue after taking a policeman's bullet to save her boyfriend/creator,
computer whiz-kid Paul Conway (Matthew Labyorteaux). Paul snuck into
the morgue, located her drawer, slid it out, and removed the sheet
covering her body. He spoke to her: "Hey Sam, I'm gonna get you
out of here."

The Shock Ending: Samantha Revealed to Be Robot
As She Snapped Paul's Neck

Although she was thought to be dead, suddenly she grabbed
Paul's neck (the film's shock ending) and started to strangle him.
Her skin stretched away, and her robotic skeleton underneath became
visible under her face and arms. Becoming an evil version of Bee Bee,
she entreated him with a whispered invitation, as he screamed:

Director David Cronenberg's science-fiction horror
film was a remake of the equally-exciting 1958 film of the same name.
In both cases, they told how an eccentric scientist, Dr. Seth Brundle
(Jeff Goldblum) in this film, had accidentally merged himself at
a molecular-genetic level with an ordinary housefly during a teleportation
incident using an experimental telepod device. His new name was Brundlefly.

His momentous death scene was prefaced with mutating
human-fly Seth's mutilation of his girlfriend's editor and former lover
Stathis Borans (John Getz). He came by the lab to protectively and
heroically rescue Seth's pregnant lover/girlfriend, a magazine reporter
named Veronica "Ronnie"
Quaife (Geena Davis). Seth vomited digestive enzymes onto his left hand
and right foot. The corrosive formic acid caused those body parts to
dissolve.

Seth, whose slowly degenerating body was then completely
transformed into a human fly, was compelled to try and combine his
hideous body with that of Veronica's (and her unborn child) ("You,
me, and the baby, together...it will be the ultimate family, a family
of three joined together in one body, more human than I am alone").
His plan failed when he was inadvertently fused with metallic components
of his telepod device. The seriously-wounded Borans had disconnected
the power lines to Veronica's telepod with a shotgun blast, causing
a shower of sparks and aborting her connection to the fusion process.

In the poignant final scene, anguished and completely
disfigured 'Seth' flopped out of the telepod and wordlessly begged
Veronica to kill him by guiding the shotgun's muzzle to his body with
a deformed claw. He wished for her to end his monstrous life with a
mercy killing after the failed transport, although she at first begged:

"No
I can't."

He raised his head for one more pitiful look before she
tearfully raised the shotgun and blew the suffering Brundlefly's head
to bits with one shot. Following her accomplishment of the merciful
act of compliance, she collapsed on her knees to the floor, as the
film ended.

The Hideous Brundlefly's Mercy-Killing

[Note: In the original 1958 film, the fly-mutated scientist
Andre Delambre (David Hedison) - a human with a fly head - was suicidally
killed in a hydraulic press machine, assisted by his wife Helene (Patricia
Owens). In an alternative explanation, miniaturized Andre - now a fly
with a human head - was trapped in a spider's web (the so-called "Help
me! Help me!" scene) and smashed to death with a rock by police
inspector Charas (Herbert Marshall).]

Serial killer Henry's random crime spree was loosely
based on real-life murderer Henry Lee Lucas (who eventually died in
prison in 2001). Henry's background partially accounted for his murderous
streak - his abusive mother (who Henry claimed he had stabbed to death
on his 14th birthday) was a "whore" who forced young Henry
to wear a dress and watch her having sex with her many customers in
their house.

Interspersed in the film's action were still shots of
Henry's trail of carnage in Illinois - they were the death poses of
many of the murder victims (killed off-screen), sometimes with accompanying
sounds of their screams or death struggle:

Still Image Victims

Death

Young woman (Mary Demas)

Lying bloodied (disemboweled?) in a grassy area
(the first still image of the film!)

A storeowner couple (Elizabeth and Ted Kaden)

Shots-in-the-head

Prostitute # 1 (Mary Demas)

Murdered in a bathroom with a broken soda bottle
stuck into her face

Female corpse (Denise Sullivan)

Partially-clothed and lying face-down and floating
in a body of water

Female

Murdered in her living room, strangled with a power
cord wrapped around her throat and cigarette burns on her chest
and face

Dim-witted, paroled, roommate prison-buddy Otis (Tom
Towles) first witnessed Henry's cold-blooded dirty-work when they
picked up two Chicago prostitutes (Mary Demas and Kristin Finger)
and he murdered them in their car by snapping both of their necks, and
then dragged their bodies into a dark alleyway (Henry later rationalized
about his killings: "It's always the same and it's always different...
It's either you or them, one way or the other").

Henry repeatedly stabbed smart-alec TV salesman/fence
(Ray Atherton) with a soldering iron (first in the hand) and smashed
a cheap $50 B/W TV over his head, after which Otis plugged in the set
to end his life by electrocution. The two stole a video-cam recorder
and a high-priced TV set.

After Otis' frustrated statement, "I'd
like to kill somebody," he randomly shot a 'Good Samaritan' (Rick
Paul) in an overpass tunnel on the side of the downtown freeway, to
make himself
"feel better."

There were the disturbing killings of a helpless family
(a couple and their son) (Lisa Temple, Brian Graham, and Sean Ores)
in their suburban home, videotaped for repeated viewings by both Henry
and partner-in-crime Otis.

Henry found Otis strangling and raping his sister
Becky (Tracy Arnold) - Henry's 'girlfriend.' She defended herself by
stabbing Otis in the right eye with the sharp end of a haircomb. Then
Henry joined in and stabbed Otis in the chest as Becky watched. Henry
cut off Otis' head in the bathtub, and his body parts were dumped in
a river.

Otis Stabbed in Chest by Henry and Then Beheaded

Becky in Suitcase?

On the move with Becky, the two spent the night in
a motel. The next morning, Henry left the motel by himself (had he
killed Becky in the room and dismembered her body?) and deposited
Becky's heavy blood-stained suitcase in a roadside ditch (was Becky
inside?)

Henry Lee Lucas
(Michael Rooker) Still Images of Murder Victims Smashed TV Set Into Head of SalesmanKilling of Good SamaritanVideotaped Murder of Family

The Hitcher (1986)

# 31

This brutally violent and scary
horror-thriller film by director Robert Harmon featured one of the
most horrific and infamous death scenes ever filmed (it occurred
off-screen, but was no less grotesque).

While driving from Chicago to San Diego to transport a rental car,
Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell) picked up a strange, violent terrorizing,
psychopathic 'hitcher' named John Ryder (Rutger Hauer). As he opened
the car door, he stated: "My mother told me to never do this" -
the film was possibly a nightmarish vision of what could happen in
the scenario of picking up a dangerous hitch-hiker.

After a few stalking and murderous encounters with the
relentless Ryder along the way, Jim entered the Longhorn Restaurant,
a roadside diner/gas station before it was officially open, where the
young, friendly blonde waitress Nash (Jennifer Jason Leigh) served
him a meal of fries and a cheeseburger. When he shockingly found a
severed finger in the fries - it was a tip-off that Ryder was in the
vicinity. In a tense cat-and-mouse game, Ryder continually framed Jim
for the crime spree murders he had committed of various victims, including
police officers.

The sweet waitress Nash became a victim of serial killer
Ryder when she was tied hand and foot by chains between the front end
of a trailer-truck and a detached semi-trailer. She screamed out: "Please
don't!" In
the cab of the truck with his foot on the clutch, Ryder challenged
everyone to shoot him (an officer had cautioned: "If we shoot
him, his foot is gonna come off that clutch and that truck is gonna
roll").

Jim tensely entered the cab, where Ryder suggested: "The
gun is loaded. Go for it! Go ahead, pick it up." Ryder revved
the engine and threatened to accelerate. As instructed, Jim picked
up the gun and pointed it at Ryder, but couldn't squeeze the trigger
(fearing that "she'll die"). Ryder was disgusted: "You
useless waste," let up the clutch, and accelerated anyway.

With a horrible tearing and stretching sound, Nash was
pulled in two (the gore remained off-screen) when Ryder's foot came
off the clutch. The last view was of her bound hands.

The suspenseful film concluded with Jim successfully
finding ultimate vengeance upon the seemingly-dead hitcher by blasting
him with a shotgun, and in the process becoming as lethal as Ryder
had been.

Nash Torn in Two Shot-gun Revenge on Ryder

Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

This was a remake of director Roger Corman's earlier
low-budget black comedy Little Shop of Horrors (1960), which
also became the basis for the off-Broadway musical in the early 80s.

In the dentist's office
during an appointment, Seymour balked at killing Scrivello with a revolver,
when he watched as the hysterical, over-the-top dentist put on a "special
gas mask" because he "really wanted to enjoy this." But
then he accidentally asphyxiated himself on laughing
(or "giggle") gas (nitrous oxide), due to a malfunctioning
control valve on the tank - and he literally
collapsed and died laughing in front of Seymour.

Seymour dragged the dentist's body (stashed in a canvas
bag) down the street back to the florist shop, where the ravenous plant
called out: "Feed Me!"

In the back of the shop, Seymour began
to chop up the body with an axe, when the florist shop owner, Mr. Mushnik
(Vincent Gardenia) saw his silhouette and assumed that he was an axe-murderer.
However, he fled in fear without being seen. Seymour dragged the bloody
body parts to Audrey II, where the open-mouthed, voracious, blood-seeking
plant gladly feasted on them.

In this thriller based on Thomas Harris' novel Red
Dragon, part of the backstory was about obnoxious, sleazy and
unethical National Tattler tabloid reporter Freddie Lounds
(Stephen Lang), who had previously covered the Doctor Hannibal
Lecktor (Brian Cox) case for the tabloid. He had also written a
paperback about the convicted psychopathic serial killer, who was
now imprisoned.

The newest serial killer on the loose was eventually
identified as Francis Dollarhyde (Tom Noonan), nicknamed "The
Tooth Fairy" because he left bite-marks at crime scenes. Complications
arose in the most recent serial murder case when Lounds published a
front page story in The National Tattler about the fact that
FBI profiler agent Will Graham (William Petersen) had returned: "FBI
Manhunter Graham, Consults Hannibal Lecktor, The Fiend Who Tried to
Kill Him," accompanied by a picture of the profiler outside Lecktor's
prison.

Lounds was actually asked to collaborate on the case,
to work with the police and publish material about how the "Tooth Fairy" was
probably gay, and had molested all of his male victims, and was possibly
impotent with members of the opposite sex. It was also mentioned that
in the killer's past, he may have had sexual relations with his mother.
The most recent edition of The National Tattler displayed
a picture of Graham and reporter Lounds on the front page, next to
Lounds' article entitled: "FBI Pursues Pervert."

Lounds was ambushed by the killer in an underground parking
garage, chloroformed, and kidnapped. He was blindfolded and strapped
in a wheelchair, and taunted: "According to you, I'm a sexual
pervert. 'An animal,' you said." The tall, near-albino, crazed "Tooth
Fairy" with a cleft-palate and scraggly white hair wore a ladies'
sheer stocking mask over his head and eyes, and forced Lounds to watch
a slideshow beginning with a painting of William Blake's The Great
Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in the Rays of the Sun, with
further pictures of his transformed female victims (Mrs. Leeds, Mrs.
Jacobi). The killer told Lounds:

Before me, you are a slug in the sun. You are privy
to a great becoming, and you recognize nothing. You are an ant
in the afterbirth. It is your nature to do one thing correctly,
tremble. But fear is not what you owe me. No, Lounds, you and the
others, you owe me awe.

Lounds was forced to record a note in which he admitted
his writings about the Red Dragon were lies, and that Graham had coerced
him to write the untruths (part of the note: "He will be more
merciful to me than to you. You will lie awake in fear of what the
Red Dragon will do"). The "Tooth Fairy" then announced
that Lounds' promise to tell the truth would be sealed: "We'll
seal your promise with a kiss."

The screaming Lounds had his lips
bitten off (off-screen) and then was set ablaze in the wheelchair.
He was rolled down a steep underground parking garage ramp towards
the camera - his death occurred later (offscreen) in a hospital.

This historical drama (winner of the Cannes Film Festival's
Palme d'Or, and Oscar winner for Best Cinematography) was set in
the mid-1700s. It told about the strenuous efforts of Jesuits in
the Catholic Church to convert natives ("Indians still existing
in their natural state") in South American jungle areas (the
Guarani) to Christianity and to bring civilization.

The film opened before the credits with Cardinal Altamirano
(Ray McAnally) dictating a description of the state of affairs regarding
the missionary efforts. It was presented with an evocative image of
a martyred Jesuit missionary, crucified and tumbling over Iguazu Falls,
a massive waterfall, 200 feet to his death:

...It was from these missions the Jesuit fathers
carried the word of God to the high and undiscovered plateau to
those Indians still existing in their natural state - and received
in return, martyrdom.

South American natives hoisted up the priest, stripped
to the waist and tied to a giant, rough-hewn wooden cross. They carried
him to a body of water, and tossed him in. Face-up, he slowly floated
downstream until tumbling over the waterfall's edge to his death.

During the title credits, a new Spanish Jesuit priest,
Father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) arrived, as the voice-over dictated letter
continued, to scale the rocky cliffs next to the waterfall and enter
the native community to carry on the work:

The death of this priest was to form the first link
in the chain of which I now find myself a part. Continue. As your
Holiness undoubtedly knows, little in this world unfolds as we
predict. Indeed, how could the Indians have supposed that the death
of that unsung priest would bring among them a man whose life was
to become inexplicably intertwined with their own?

Martyred Jesuit Missionary

Platoon (1986)

# 14

Director Oliver Stone's Best Picture-winning film was
a harrowing, visceral, realistic, and visually-shattering Vietnam-war
film.

During a Vietnamese jungle operation that became a
punishing firefight ambush, callous, scar-faced Staff Sergeant Barnes
(Tom Berenger) ordered an airlift evacuation for all the dead and
wounded in his platoon to be evacuated.

Then, the sociopathic Barnes
stalked after Sgt. Elias (Willem Dafoe), who had become separated
from the platoon in the deep jungle. When he located him, he calmly
shot his long-time opponent three times in the chest, and left him
for dead.

The malevolent Barnes told questioning Chris (Charlie
Sheen) who came upon him:

"Elias is dead. Fall back with the platoon...Yeah,
he's back there about 100 meters...He's DEAD! There's 'gooks' all over
the god-damn place. Get movin'."

At the helicopter pickup area, gurneys were quickly loaded
with the dead and dying before they swiftly pulled away. But as they
departed, Chris noticed a seriously-wounded soldier ("They've
got Elias") being pursued, retreating, and running (in slow-motion)
from a group of NVA soldiers firing at him (Radio operator: "There's
still one on the deck down there").

An overpowered Sgt. Elias emerged and staggered into
view, falling and crawling along, as the helicopters provided some
firepower to assist.

Sgt. Elias' Crucifix Death Pose

Although there was an attempt to rescue Elias,
who adopted an iconic, slow-motion crucifixion martyr pose when he
was struck by VC enemy fire, he was fatally hit and died in grandiose
fashion before he could be taken aboard (while Samuel Barber's Adagio
For Strings played).

Sgt. Barnes Shooting EliasWounded Elias Running Into View

Top Gun (1986)

# 36

Director Tony's Scott's acclaimed action film told
about daring young pilots at the US Navy's elite
fighter weapons school. It featured adrenaline-pumping aerial flight
scenes, nicknamed characters, super-patriotic and pro-US attitudes,
a popular soundtrack, and very quotable dialogue: (e.g., "I feel
the need, the need for speed!" or "You can be my wingman anytime")
- and was the # 1 film at the box-office (domestic) in 1986.

During a failed flight, naval pilot Lt.
Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards) died following a tailspin
and botched ejection when he hit his own cockpit canopy and was instantly
killed.

Both parachuted into the water, where fighter pilot Pete
'Maverick' Mitchell (Tom Cruise) cradled in his arms his buddy who
was lying on top of him. He hesitated to let him go before he was being
hoisted up into a rescue helicopter.

Goose's Ejection From Cockpit BotchedMaverick Holding His Dead Buddy in Water

Transformers: The Movie (1986)

This feature-length animated film told about conflict
between two armies of transforming giant humanoid robots (or transformers),
set in the year 2005, to determine the fate of the planet
Cybertron: the Autobots vs. the Decepticons.

Valiant 'good-guy' and beloved hero Autobot Optimus Prime
(voice of Peter Cullen) suffered an unexpected and surprise death when
he was killed in the first third of the film. He
was battling the 'bad-guy' Decepticons led by Megatron (voice of Frank
Welker) and StarScream (voice of Chris Latta), to avoid being defeated
by a giant, mechanized, planet-consuming robot called Unicron (voice
of Orson Welles in his last film role).

As Optimus Prime died, he told those around him:

"Do not grieve. Soon I shall be one with the Matrix."

Optimus Prime passed on the "matrix of leadership" (a
legendary glowing talisman) to Ultra Magnus (voice of Robert Stack).
He promised victory in the future:

"One
day an autobot shall rise from our ranks and use the power of the matrix
to light our darkest hour. Until that day till all are one..."

Then, Optimus
Prime's blue eyes flickered and dimmed, he turned dark and gray, and
his head went limp.